"It can mean but one thing--_that some one has come into the canyon_." After a moment more of silent thought he said almost cheerily: "Ah! it is Lucas." But again his voice changed as he added: "No, he dreads the spot where he was so nearly buried alive and will not go there. Whoever it is, he is a stranger. I must know, for if they have come here to remain, if they are our foes we will be forewarned and hence forearmed. "I will at once solve the mystery, for I had hoped never to behold a human face here other than Lucas Langley's and my own," and the gold-hunter walked away in the direction of the firelight which had so startled him. He went cautiously, for he knew well the danger if he was discovered, and the builders of the camp-fire proved to be foes. He knew the locality well, and that he could approach within a hundred yards of the fire, and discover just what there was to be seen. Arriving within an eighth of a mile of the spot he halted, laid aside his game and rifle, and then moved forward from rock to rock, tree to tree, armed only with his revolvers. He now saw that there were three fires, two near together and one a couple of hundred feet apart and off to itself. The scene of the camp was a small canyon near his old home and on the trail leading to it. There was gold in the canyon, for he had discovered it there and taken some away, while he had marked it as his claim, it having been already staked as one of the finds and claims of the real Andrew Seldon. In truth, there were a dozen such claims in the Grand Canyon found by Andrew Seldon, all of them paying finds. Having reached a point within a hundred yards of the camp-fires, Seldon leaned over a rock and began to survey the scene. The three fires were burning brightly, and beyond the light fell upon a number of horses corralled in the canyon, where there was grass and water. There were brush shelters near, three in number, and about the fires in front of them were gathered a number of men. Counting them, Andrew Seldon found that there were eight in sight. There appeared to be no guard kept, and the camp was certainly not a very new one, apparently having been made there several weeks before. Emboldened by his discovery, the gold-hunter crept nearer and nearer, and then could see that the men were all masked. This struck him as being a very remarkable circumstance, indeed, since they were clad like miners, some of them wearing beards that came below their masks. All were armed thoroughly. They were eating their supper as Andrew Seldon looked at them. Gaining a point of observation still nearer, the gold-hunter obtained a view of the camp-fire apart from the others. A comfortable little cabin was just behind the fire, and a rustic bench had been made near it.